A woman was allegedly murdered by her husband who attacked her with an axe in Daria village on Saturday, suspecting her of having an ‘illicit’ relationship.

The police identified the suspect as Sajid Hussain, 40, who hails from Katghar village in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and who was living with his wife, Sabia, 37, in a rented accommodation in Daria village in Chandigarh. The couple have two children in the age-group of 8-10 years, who are living in the village in Moradabad. Sajid used to work as a mechanic.

The local police were informed about the incident around 10 am, when they received a call from the couple’s landlady, Manisha. According to the police, the landlady had knocked on the door of their room and found Sabia lying in a pool of blood.

According to the police, Sajid had allegedly attacked Sabia with an axe around 3 am when she was asleep. There were deep injuries on her head, face and other parts of the body. “Sabia was initially attacked with an iron rod, and then he hit her on the head over four times, with an axe, which was recovered from under the cot,” said police.

The suspect had fled the spot and was arrested from Sector 26, near Bapu Dham Colony, in the afternoon.

“In his police statement, he said he had murdered his wife because he suspected that she had “illicit relations” and that “she did not have a good character”. They had arguments over this earlier as well. The latest was a few days ago, when he found her talking to someone on a cellphone,” said sub-inspector Sukhjinder Singh.

The suspect also told the police that they used to have frequent arguments and he had also tried to end his life by consuming acid a few months ago. He had shifted to Daria village a month ago to receive proper medical treatment. He was undergoing treatment at PGIMER, Sector 12, and the police have recovered his medical card from the house.